Electric Wasteland response

     I like to consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable about the environmental effects we have on the world, or at least that I am not totally ignorant to the major problems, but "Electric Wasteland" dropped a couple bombs I was totally unaware of. I know that the U.S. is a very large, consumerist economy that imports a lot of cheap goods from countries where the workers are paid less and not treated well. It is a sad reality that in we effectively displace our inconvenience onto less fortunate countries so that we can continue to have products cheap enough to buy with abandon. What I did not realize is how thoroughly we take advantage of this system in the case of electronics. Not only do we outsource manufacturing of environmentally hazardous products, but we also outsource the electric trash that so inevitably comes with the newest shiny technology.
     The waste from our consumer electronics contains many toxic chemicals and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, sulfur, and mercury, but I assumed this was waste we got rid of ourselves. Or at the very least we piled up the consequences of our consumption on our own land. I was very wrong. While it is technically illegal to transport the toxic consumer electronic waste out of the country, there is a huge black market for exporting the undesirable waste to the undesirables of the world. Even major recycling companies which claim specifically to be extra carefully with waste like cathode ray tubes have been found to be illegally transporting waste via shipping freight shipping containers to to small toxic trash villages in rural China that slowly dismantle and pile up our waste, poisoning the surrounding air, water, and soil as well as ruining the health of the poor workers controlled by local gangs. Aside from the obvious ecological destruction caused from our unrestrained consumption we are taking advantage of poorer societies around the world, essentially to save a few bucks.

3 sustainable options:

Material science is booming, and while toxic heavy metals may be the cheapest materials to use in the mass production of circuit boards and other electronic components there are surely alternative options for the trace materials that make up the most dangerous parts of the electronic components.

There is a growing industry in E-waste removal and recycling, that could benefit from automation for safer deconstruction processes. Safe, legal, efficient E-waste removal could surely be profitable and potentially even subsidized by the government.

BUY LESS CRAP, GET RID OF IT IN RESPONSIBLE WAYS, USE CONSUMER VOICE TO DEMAND LESS DANGEROUS PRODUCTS.